Text Messaging for the Blind Text
messaging for the blind is now available with the release
of a device that reads the messages aloud. Of course, this
somewhat defeats the purpose of text messaging. What text
messaging for the blind needs is some sort of serial
version of braille, a morse-code throbber, perhaps, with a
thumb press for keying replies (another million dollar
idea, yours for free from OLDaily). By Unknown, BBC News,
November 5, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

HP, MIT Delve Deep With Digital Library I
don't want to sound too cynical, but it sounds to me like
MIT has re-invented the Open Archives Initiative and
slapped its own brand on it. "Called DSpace, the new system
is essentially a centralized, electronic repository for the
massive amounts of intellectual property created by
research institutions." Not that I think they've done a bad
thing - this is exactly the sort of project that should be
encouraged (especially once we get them networked). But it
would have been nice to see the years of effort at OAI get
some credit. By Michael Kanellos, News.Com, November 4,
2002
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New PCs Likely to Cede Some Control to
Outsiders Another warning (though I doubt the author
intends it as such) about the shape of things to come: "To
thwart hackers and foster on-line commerce, the next
generation of computers will almost certainly cede some
control to software firms, Hollywood and other outsiders.
That could break a long-standing tenet of computing: that
PC owners ultimately control data on their own machines.
Microsoft calls its technology 'Palladium.' Intel dubs it
'LaGrande.' An industry group that includes these
companies, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and 170 others terms it
'trusted computing'." One name missing from this list:
Apple. Are you listening? Rip, mix and burn.
By Associated Press, Globe and Mail, November 5, 2002
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Making Sense of E-learning in a Confused
Market If you want some good discussion of the
(confused) state of e-learning, read the first half of this
article. If you are not familiar with the e-Learning Centre
and Eclipse, read the second half. Staying with the first
half, this article tours through some of the misguided
assumptions of the early days, lingering on the now
widespread observation that most learning is informal. It
also observes that purchasers are now looking at e-learning
solutions rather than specific courses, true in one sense,
since e-learning is about more than courses, but worrisome
in another,m since you shouldn't need to mortgage the house
to implement e-learning. By Jane Knight, e-Learning
Centre, November 5, 2002
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Tech's Newest Trend - Decentralization It
has at times felt like a lonely campaign for me, but in
various projects (and lately, on the elearning leader's
list) I have been arguing for a decentralized learning
object repository network. Not everybody agrees. So items
like this make me feel warm inside. "Decentralization will
be the critical challenge for the technology, media and
telecommunications industries. Each has developed with the
assumption that powerful central forces will manage
development. Enterprise IT has 'big iron' servers and
monolithic software applications; communications has
carriers investing in huge infrastructure build-outs; and
media has content owners controlling distributions
channels. These approaches are under siege--and not because
there's a New Economy, or because information deserves to
be free, or because of any fluctuation in the stock market.
Centralized systems are failing for two simple reasons:
They can't scale, and they don't reflect the real world of
people." Yes. I feel so warm and fuzzy now. By Kevin
Werbach, ZD Net, October 24, 2002
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Collaborative Tools for e-Learning Good
survey of the development of collaboration tools in
e-learning. Bonk observes that while "collaborative
e-learning tools are changing the way we work, learn and
socialize," it is still the case that "e-learning needs to
catch up to collaborative work environments already in
place." Indeed, he asks, "Instead of managing learners, who
is building e-learning tools to empower and motivate
learners? Why are most e-learning systems individual when
learning is a social phenomenon? Why do they typically
teach discrete facts apart from the context in which they
will be used?" By Curtis Bonk, Chief Learning Officer,
November, 2002
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Faceted Classification of Information
Good discussion of an obscure, but important, concept. The
idea is that in a large and rapidly changing body of
information it makes no sense to assign resources to
pre-assigned categories. These change, hierarchies change,
cross-categorization is a reality, not an idle concern.
This is something I learned creating the knowledge base for
OLDaily, which is why when you look at the list of
categories on this site, it is never quite the same as it
was last week. By Paul Murray, Knowledge Management
Connection, October, 2002
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ELearnSpace Interview: Jay Cross Jay
Cross joins one of e-learning's most exclusive clubs:
people interviewed by George Siemens. Jay, just back from
TechLearn ("M-I-C (See you real soon),
K-E-Y (Why? Because we like you.), M-A-S-I-E."), is the
only person I have seen say, while being interviewed,
"Enough about me." And Jay calls it like it is: "The
subject was creating a culture of learning. We had people
with heavy technology background, and almost every issue we
talk about was social. It came down to the people.
Technology was always secondary." By George Siemens,
elearnspace, October 27, 2002
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Scale the E-learning Curve/ Getting Savvy
It's a sign of the times, I guess. Learning technology has
become so expensive, and marketing promises so unreliable,
that government purchasers are running systems through
three day demonstrations before they buy. It was a lesson
learned the hard way: "One federal department bought
content from two different vendors, only to find the second
vendor's content could not be shared across the agency's
platform." By Gail Repsher Emery, Washington Technology,
November 4, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]